Meditation for May 24, Sisterly Love

Speaking of the spirit of fraternal charity that St. John of the Cross excelled in developing in the communities around him, an author smilingly offers this objection: "Yes, they love one another in the convents; and evidently, if we compare the peace that reigns there with the peace that reigns in other places, we would say that they love one another a great deaL"

Slight praise, indeed! When the standard of comparison is very low, to say that one object surpasses another does not indicate a very remarkable degree of attainment. To say that they love one another more in the convent than is the general practice in the world is not saying very much. Ordinarily people love each other very little in the world.

Let us seek another criterion and aspire to a somewhat more elevated ideal, otherwise we shall scarcely surpass the low-water mark of the commonplace which is devoid of any grandeur.

Let us speak of the friendship that our vocation clearly supposes, a friendship sealed by ardent devotion to the same sublime cause, capable of forgetting pettiness, and of surmounting miseries in­herent in all community life; of the friendship whose only bond is that holy passion of saving souls for Jesus Christ, and of loving Him as He has loved us, a purely supernatural friendship where all hearts are united and fixed in the Charity of the One Friend, united with and absorbed in the exclusive love of the Divine Heart who has so loved us and wants us to be loved by all.

"O Jesus, permit me to love all my sisters with this affection, and grant that I may love without faltering, without lessening my love, without excluding anyone from my affection, without however becoming familiar, that I may truly love my Sisters as sisters."

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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)